As Israel mourns those killed one year ago today, attacks on Lebanon and Gaza continue. Plus: the aftermath of Hurricane Helene
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Good morning.
One year ago, Hamas launched a surprise attack on Israel that killed 1,200 people – the deadliest event for Jewish people since the Holocaust. A further 251 were taken hostage. In the months that followed, the Israeli offensive in Gaza laid waste to the densely populated coastal territory and has so far killed almost 42,000 people, according to Palestinian health authorities.
How many hostages remain in Gaza, one year later? Nearly 100 hostages have yet to return home. While hopes were raised by the release of 117 hostages early in the war, including 105 in an exchange during a brief ceasefire in November 2023, more hostages have been found dead than alive during Israeli operations as the offensive has dragged on. One year later, some families are just learning that their loved ones were killed in the initial attacks, with their remains still in Gaza.
How are the families of hostages coping? “I’ve had enough. A year is just too long. I can’t take it any more,” says Aviva Siegel, who was held hostage for 51 days before being released but whose husband, Keith, is still captive. For the families of the six Thai migrant workers who are still being held, the lack of news has been unbearable.
What is happening in Gaza? The Israel Defense Forces has called on residents in the northern Gaza Strip, where 300,000 people are estimated to have remained, to evacuate southward towards the so-called humanitarian zone of al-Mawasi, where an estimated 1 million displaced people are sheltering.
One year later, what are conditions like for Palestinians in Gaza? Health workers who volunteered in Gaza say that beyond the airstrikes and military operations that have destroyed much of the territory, malnutrition is a huge problem, as well as worsening sanitation and the limited access to water. Medical supplies are hard to come by, with medics reporting that they are operating without essentials such as surgical gowns and gauze. While polio vaccinations started last month, the brutal reality was that some of the children being vaccinated in the morning would be seen as casualties by the evening, said one doctor.
